Tuesday, July 08, 2008

So now I have a glued and screwed frame and its all set for the legs. I have just used simple brackets to attach them inside the frame and will use the tops of them to support the plywood top.

The only tricky bit is getting them all evenly spaced from the top and that is more fiddly than anything else.

Once the legs were all on I cut a piece of plywood to fit the hole and screwed in onto the legs.

This is the moment of truth. Is the table anywhere near straight and flat?

Well sitting on the not quite so flat patio it is pretty damn close. I didn't really worry about it too much as it was made to sit on the gravel at the bottom of the garden next to the benches so being level is a relative concept.

Now I can sand off all the rough joins and smooth over the edges. I really must get and learn how to use a plane. I think this is the tool that is missing from my wood craft arsenal.

So with a brief pause for a beer it's time to get the tiles on. This is where I got lucky. The tiles fit very evenly into the top with only a couple of lines needing to be cut from each side. One could argue that it was more design than luck seeing as I measured the tiles when I drew up the plans but given all the tweaks it is serendipitous none the less.

It is now looking pretty cool and once it is grouted and stained I think its going to be worth the effort - and the approximate £50 materials it cost.